Mysterious explosion causes tremor on China-North Korea border

The China Seismological Network Center (CENC) today recorded a small 1.3 degree magnitude earthquake in a border region of North Korea, whose origin was a "suspicious explosion". "although a North Korean nuclear test is excluded.

The agency said the earthquake had occurred in Hunchun City, Yanbian, a Korean autonomous province in Jilin Province, which borders the North Korean province of North Hamgyong.

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According to NCPC, the earthquake originated at a depth of zero kilometers, which does not correspond to the tremors generated by underground atomic tests in North Korea, which were also carried out in Punggye-ri, about 215 km southwest of Hunchun.

This news comes after the announcement by China of the first official visit of President Xi Jinping to Pyongyang, 14 years after the visit of a Chinese head of state in the neighboring country under Hu's presidency Jintao.

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The latest North Korean test conducted to date, on September 3, 2017, generated an earthquake of about 5.8 degrees, reported the EFE news agency.

North Korea destroyed in May 2018, just days before the first historic summit with the United States, the operational tunnels of the Punggye-ri nuclear test center and badured that this operation would "completely dismantle" the facilities. .

Since November 2017, Pyongyang has maintained a moratorium on long-range missiles, signaling its willingness to negotiate a denuclearization process with Washington.